Buzz Williams on Maryland basketball's season opener, Collin Metcalf, necessary adjustments, defensive DNA

Ahmed Ghafir
3 days ago
7 min read

Everything that head coach Buzz Williams said ahead of Maryland men’s basketball’s season opener vs. Coppin State on Monday:

On level of concern with injuries

“If I could control it, I would give more effort and energy to it. I think the - in a demented sort of way - the reps of those that are healthy as we're trying to build, lay the foundation as we're trying to grow and learn what gives us our best chance. Those guys are accumulating reps at a really fast rate. You only have eight guys to practice. They're getting every single rep on both sides of the ball. So we're just taking advantage of what it is.”

Whether Maryland will get any injured players back vs. Coppin State

“I have no idea.”

On the Baltimore double header for the season opener

“Probably not quite there yet to be able to ascertain how I'll feel, but I do feel it approaching - all of those things. Not as familiar with the state or the institution or how often we have played at Baltimore like you would be, or maybe even as much as I should have researched. But for sure, really excited. Thankful for the people that are a part of what is going to be year number one. So many relationships, so many good things, bad things and how all of it has been orchestrated to get to the point. It's very humble but also very excited and transparently, for sure, there's anxiousness but in a positive way. The expectations are contagious and you want to do well. And in order to do well, you need to do well today, and whether that's in College Park or whether that's in Baltimore. So being the new person, I don't know all of the history, but I know bits and pieces of it, so for sure thankful.”

On roster construction

“I don't know - to start from ground zero, in some ways, is very unique to my history. That's not to say it in a negative connotation. I think that's what the model of college athletics will be going forward. And so it did not just happen at Maryland, it happened at many other places. And I think from a timing standpoint - I think my press conference was April the 2^nd - I don't think that you're really as a head coach, at that moment in time, thinking of anything other than this is my first year, this is going to be our first team. How can we do our best to make sure that the people that join us, regardless of seat on the bus, so to say, fit who we want to be? And I understand there's a prerequisite of talent but I think from a sustainability standpoint, for us, we want to build. We want to grow. We want to learn together. We want there to be some remnants with each passing year. And so I think the character and the work ethic of all of the people is just as important in some regards as the talent understanding there's a prerequisite. So I don't necessarily think transparently that I was thinking guards or forwards or swings or ball guards. I was just thinking people that I would want to be around, like most coaches would say - who can you lose with in order to win with? And so I've never been the coach that said that, but I do think that there is some truth in this is a 14, 16 18-hour a day deal and you're starting at ground zero. And so who do you want to be around every day and who do you want representing us in year one? When they're on the court, when they're off the court, when they're on campus, when they're off campus. I don't think I was really thinking specific to position so to say. I think as the roster began to unfold, you begin to - from a NIL perspective, from a scholarship perspective, without the house settlement being done, at that time - you're trying to figure out, okay, could he play 10 minutes a game in January? Could he play 20 minutes a game in January? So I think as you kind of get going, you start thinking that away but not initially. I wasn't. Maybe I should have been.”

On the logistics of eight players available for practice

“Logistically, it's really difficult. Coaches, a lot of the guys on our staff spend an inordinate amount of time trying to figure out how we can accumulate positive reps on both sides of the ball, similar to what he was asking, like, who's going to play? I don't know. Well, how long has it been since you played 5-on-5? Long time. Well, doesn't that alter everything? Of course. But again, we're still going to play on Monday, and we're still going to play on Friday, and we're still going to practice and we need all of our energy going to those that can. And particularly like, I think the last time I talked to you guys, there were seven guys that played 199 minutes and five of those seven had never been in a college pregame locker room. Okay, well that's a lot. And so how are you going to guard our ball screen? How are you going to guard a down screen? What are you doing in transition? What's your favorite out-of-bounds plays like all of those things. And some of those guys are somewhat, quote, playing out of position just because of the situation with the roster. But again, those reps that they're getting in practice and in the games, long-term, I think that bodes well for their growth.”

On minutes behind Pharrel Payne

“I would like him to play as many minutes as he can play. And relative to Monday, you could say that about those seven guys, I would have played Dre [Mills] more minutes if he wouldn't have fouled out. So I think Pharrel will play as many minutes as he can. I think George [Turkson Jr.] can play some as an undersized forward. I think Elijah [Saunders] can play some. And then as our healthy guys return, there will maybe be some more minutes to choose from. But [Pharrel] for sure, our first and best option inside.”

On improving from Monday’s exhibition win

“We did a really, really poor job of guarding the ball. It got us in rotation and then because we were in rotation, because we couldn't guard the ball, they offensive rebounded probably at the highest rate they have since coach [Jim] Ferry has been there. They did a great job going to the glass. We did a poor job of finishing the possession with the rebound. But if you rewind on why that was, it was because we struggled guarding the ball. And then on the weak side, we were just spun around too much and didn't do a good job when the ball was in the air. I would say that would be the number one thing we'll have to improve upon regardless of opponent. We did a good job, almost great job on the offensive glass. I think we rebounded 55, 56% of our misses. That's probably an outlier number. I hope that our defensive rebound percentage is an outlier, number two, because I think they rebounded like 32% of their misses and that's not a good number regardless of opponent. But we need to do a better job on the glass, but we can only do a better job on the glass like all other teams if you stay out of rotation as much as possible, which means you have to keep the ball in front of you more than we did on.”

On the message to the team ahead of the season opener

“Without giving away all of the secrets, everything revolving around how can we guard the ball better? How can we not be in rotation? How can our rotations be more effective when we are in rotation? And then you're not going to play perfectly, but when you get in rotation, you still have to have more physicality and more of an effort to finish the possessions with the rebound than we did on Monday.”

On the team’s defensive DNA

“We're still trying to figure that out, transparently. We played one possession of zone, like you mentioned and it kind of looked like bad man which was the other possessions that we played. And so we aborted the zone. But we've got to - we don't know and we've made some changes after West Virginia to try to figure out how to help us. It helped us in some regards and we will and will continue to make changes until we find what's right relative to the roster that we have and who's going to play. And so I don't know exactly what it will be. We have a distinct style of play on what we would prefer defensively and we've continued to adjust in accordance with our roster because I don't know that our roster suggests that how we prefer to play defensively is the right way for this group to play, and that's our job to continue to sort that out. But we're going to have to have a much more distinct identity, regardless of whether it's man or zone going forward. And we don't - even today, we're going to practice when we finish with you - that was 92% of what we did yesterday and it'll probably be 87% of what we do today. Because we want our defense to help our offense and I think we did okay with our offense helping our defense. If you rebound 55% of your misses, that's probably your best transition defense. We just gave the ball to them too much when we had possession and that's how our offense can help our defense more. But we need our defense to help our offense more than it did on Monday.”

On Collin Metcalf

“I did not think he was very productive in the minute. We do need him to continue to try to figure it out. Even though you guys don't know it and because I don't speak of player injuries, he's probably not completely back to where he needs to be. But from a size standpoint, he can help us. But he did not help us in the one minute and relative to the time, score, momentum of the game, I didn't think we had many possessions to give away.”

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